Episode 16 — Dwarf Fortress

Tarn Adams joins me on the newest episode of KakeBytes to regale us with the tale of Slaves to Armok: God of Blood Chapter II: Dwarf Fortress and how it came to be.

Dwarf Fortress has been free to play and available to download since 2006, but Tarn and his brother Zach have been creating games for decades longer than we’ve been able to enjoy them.

During production for today’s episode we ran into some technical difficulties and because of this our first recording was mostly lost, but of the two and a half hours we chatted we were able to save the first thirty minutes. I’ll be releasing the audio available from the first recording where Tarn discusses some other aspects of his childhood programming with Zach on my Patreon by the end of the week.

As a game that forgoes traditional graphics for ASCII (but you can download mods if you aren’t ready to fully commit), Dwarf Fortress provides players a chance to fully immerse themselves in their colony and the plights that ail them along with the tools to help them thrive, building a documented history in each procedurally generated fantasy world.

Tarn has been featured in the New York Times as well as many gaming-centric publications, and has participated in documentaries and video spotlights that highlight the work that he does as a full-time game developer.

He also travels to conventions and expos, taking part in panels where he discusses his experiences in the industry as well as presenting development updates for Dwarf Fortress.

One of my favorite aspects of the DF community is the way that Tarn and Zach give back to those that support them: crayon drawings.

On my Twitter, fans of Dwarf Fortress are sharing their crayon drawings and if you want to be featured, feel free to reply with yours! You can also read stories written by Zach on the Dwarf Fortress wiki.

I mean if you’re into DF you probably knew this already, but just in case: Kruggsmash’s YouTube channel is pretty much narrated DF tales with crayon illustrations https://t.co/GaC0XEhnds

You can find the show on Spotify, iTunes, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Overcast, Podcast Addict, TunerFM, and literally most of these million podcatchers. If you’re having trouble finding the show on your preferred app please email me at katy@kakebytes.com.

Tarn Adams joins me on the show (again!) to talk about the full launch of Dwarf Fortress coming soon to Steam and itch.io. In our first conversation on episode 16 of the show, the full launch of the game seemed literally eons away so I wanted to bring him on to discuss the news, which broke in mid-March, and other development updates. He is joined periodical […]

Gracie Arenas Strittmatter currently serves as the technical art director over BioWare's latest IP, Anthem. She joins me to talk about how she was able to turn her love for art and computer science into a career, and how she found herself at a crossroads as she was finishing up her master's program: feature films or games? She discusses her discove […]

Rachel Quirico, also known online as Seltzer, is an esports host and interviewer for games like Pokémon GO, Overwatch, Hearthstone, CSGO, Starcraft, Street Fighter, and others. She is an alumni of Frag Dolls and competed on the television show WCG Ultimate Gamer, which coupled with more than a decade of experience in the competitive gaming scene led to a lot […]

Tim Fogarty has been competing in various first person shooters for more than a decade. Most recently, he has been competing with Team Liquid on their Quake Champions Team Death Match squad and previously played on their Overwatch Contenders team as well as previous Quake titles. You can find the show on Spotify, iTunes, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Overcast, Podca […]

On today's episode of KakeBytes, he talks about his early love of games and how he vaulted that admiration into a career in gaming journalism. For more than two decades, Game Informer has maintained a dominant position as one of the most reliable sources of game news and reviews and he breaks down the ways in which the magazine has adapted to the advent […]